Next, Micky went on Facebook. The only reason she was even on that particular social network—or any other one—was to see what her children were up to. It had caused a bit of a ruckus at the breakfast table one day when Micky had created her profile and sent Olivia a friend request.
“But you’re my mom,” her daughter had said, as though it was the most self-explanatory sentence in the world.
“Exactly,” Micky had replied. “We know each other. I can even mark you as family.”
Olivia, only eleven at the time, had rolled her eyes, and said, “Just don’t go posting embarrassing things on my wall.”
“She just wants to check up on us,” Christopher had said, hitting the nail on the head exactly.
“And what if I do?” Micky’s parenting style wasn’t one of subtleness and discretion.
Neither Olivia, nor Christopher had posted something since the last time she checked. They’d probably moved on to the next big thing. Micky had heard Olivia mention something like Snapchat the other day—“All the celebs are on there these days.”—with great excitement in her voice.
Darren, on the other hand, had been tagged by one of his Facebook-crazy mates at a pub in the CBD. Micky couldn’t help it, but her heart always skipped a beat when Darren was mentioned, on Facebook or elsewhere. She was gripped by an irrational fear that he’d soon replace Micky.
Despite a slightly protruding middle-age waistline, he was a good-looking single man with a nice chunk of change in the bank. Off the top of her head, Micky could easily think of plenty of women who would find that irresistible. Of course, Darren shared equal custody of the kids with her, which might make him seem a little less attractive to prospective love interests. Having two teenagers in the house half the time isn’t the biggest love drug—Micky could testify to that.
But on weekends when the kids were with her, Micky was always extra wary when she checked Facebook and saw Darren’s name appear. He might have met someone at that pub he was at last night. Who knew? Was her ex-husband waking up alone this morning? They didn’t have the kind of post-divorce relationship where Micky could just ask him. They got along, but the wound of the separation was still too raw for them to have already crossed over into friendship.
While Micky was pondering Darren’s love life, her phone beeped, causing her heart to fling itself against her rib cage.
It was from Robin.
Had to go out of town unexpectedly for a few days. Back this afternoon. Wanna meet up tonight?
Micky sat up a bit straighter. Ouch. Her head hurt more than anticipated when she did. This was good. Robin hadn’t been avoiding her. And she wanted to meet up tonight. That was out of the question, of course. Micky pondered what to do. Should she reply immediately or wait at least an hour? To hell with it. She was replying now. She wanted to have a real conversation with Robin, one that would take away that nagging feeling in her gut of not knowing what to do and how to behave in this new-to-her situation.
Can’t tonight. Kids are here. Tomorrow evening? She texted back.
Micky figured she could sneak out for a quick drink tomorrow. Olivia always went swimming on Monday evening, and Christopher would barely notice she was gone.
OK. I’ll see you at The Pink Bean in the morning. We can set it up then.
Micky’s headache suddenly didn’t seem so bad anymore. She jumped out of bed and into the shower.
✶ ✶ ✶
With her kids in the backseat of the car, Micky couldn’t tell Amber about her text message exchange with Robin. She’d tried to steal her away from the kids when she’d arrived, but both Olivia and Christopher seemed to always perk up around their Aunt Amber. It must be her positive energy. Something Amber had tried to school Micky in many a time, but Micky must have a different kind of spirit because no matter what Amber said or did, it never stuck. Still, it was always nice to be around her. She always glowed with good health and vibes. She was also godmother to both of Micky’s children.
When Christopher was born, Micky hadn’t even had to think about it. There was no competition. Micky didn’t have any brothers or sisters and Amber was her best friend and had been since they were six. Darren knew the score and didn’t object, knowing how important it was to Micky to give Amber a role like that in their firstborn’s life, despite the fact that his sister Daisy was also in serious contention for the part.
When Olivia was born, though, Darren had assumed godmother-hood would automatically go to his sister, but Amber had just lost her father, to whom she was very close, a mere sixteen months after her mother had passed, and Micky had so desperately wanted to give her best friend the gift of life in some form. Amber was not the kind to take being a child’s godmother lightly. She was full-on, and she doted on Christopher. Micky had also assumed that Amber wouldn’t have any children of her own any time soon.